In passenger aircraft, there is a need to provide the passengers with various cold and hot drinks. At present, devices used to prepare coffee on board an aircraft usually comprise a water tank, in which the water required for the coffee preparation is heated and stored. Furthermore, conventional aircraft galley coffee preparation units have a swing-out or pull-out receiving element for receiving a coffee pad. For the preparation of coffee, heated water is supplied from the water tank to the coffee pad received in the receiving element of the coffee preparation unit. After the water has flown through the coffee pad, the prepared coffee is led into a pot positioned under the receiving element. This kind of hot-drinks preparation has the disadvantage that it is often necessary to remove the still-hot coffee pads from the receiving element of the coffee preparation unit, since the crew members normally have to use the coffee preparation unit several times immediately after one another for the preparation of coffee, in order to be able to serve all the passengers without delays. This can lead to accidents.